The present invention relates to improvements in fuel dispensers and pumps known to consumers as "gas pumps". This invention relates to an improvement in the actuating means to start and end operation of the dispenser when the fuel dispensing nozzle is removed or replaced in the dispenser housing, respectively.
The invention is particularly suitable for use in dispensers which may need to be converted between standard nozzle and vapor recovery nozzle types. One problem to be solved in such conversions is that the vapor recovery type nozzle is considerably larger than a standard nozzle, so that the nozzle receptacle or boot must be modified to receive the larger nozzle. A known dispenser is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,729 to Gerstenmaier et al. to permit adaptation between standard and vapor recovery size nozzles. Gerstenmaier provides an adjustable nozzle support for selectively positioning the support in the position as desired for the nozzle size in use. But, to turn the dispenser on, the nozzle support still must be moved in opposition to a spring and linkage arrangement and often, in practice, internal parts of this spring and linkage arrange arrangement also require replacement to reflect the differences in weight between the two nozzle types. In particular, the springs operating in opposition to this lifting step also require replacement with springs of appropriate tensions when changing from standard to vapor recovery nozzles.
This requires additional parts to be kept on hand and increases the length of time required to make a conversion, not to mention the added expense of the initial installation and the increased susceptibility of one or more of the multiplicity of parts to failure. Also, the linkage members extend through openings in the dispenser housing, but it is desirable to avoid having openings in the housing to prevent contamination of sensitive parts and to ensure that fuel vapors do not come into contact with potential ignition sources.